Breakdown of Zij kijkt achter zich voordat ze oversteekt.
zij
she
kijken
to watch
zich
oneself
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
voordat
before
achter
behind
oversteken
to cross (a street)
Questions & Answers about Zij kijkt achter zich voordat ze oversteekt.
Why do we use achter zich instead of achter haar?
In Dutch, when a preposition of place (like achter) refers back to the subject of the sentence, we use the reflexive pronoun zich. Because Zij is doing the looking, she looks behind herself. If you used the object pronoun haar here, it would mean she is looking behind a completely different woman!
Why does the sentence start with Zij but later use ze?
Zij is the stressed form and ze is the unstressed form. It is very natural in Dutch to use the stressed pronoun at the start of a sentence to clearly establish the subject, and then switch to the unstressed form for the rest of the sentence once the subject is known.
The verb oversteken (to cross) is separable. Why isn't it split up here?
Because voordat introduces a subordinate clause. Subordinate clauses force the verb to the end of the sentence. When a separable verb like oversteken is sent to the end of a clause like this, its prefix (over) and its conjugated stem (steekt) recombine into a single word.
Could I just use voor instead of voordat?
You need voordat here because it is a conjunction introducing a full clause with its own subject and verb (ze oversteekt). Voor is primarily a preposition used before nouns, as in voor de lunch (before lunch).
Learn Zij kijkt achter zich voordat ze oversteekt and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free